


Cold and Cuddles

by bubblegumclouds



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Cold, Fluff, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Illnesses, Sickfic, Sleepy Cuddles
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-12
Updated: 2017-07-12
Packaged: 2018-12-01 11:03:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,467
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11485035
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bubblegumclouds/pseuds/bubblegumclouds
Summary: George gets ill and Fred takes care of him.(A fluffy sickfic, can be read as slash or not.)





	Cold and Cuddles

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first time ever writing illness dialogue so if anyone had any tips on how to write it better, please let me know as it would really help me out!
> 
> Twitter- @cutierobandrich  
> Tumblr- cutierobandrich

“Fred, could you get bee a cup obb tea?” George shouted hoarsely with his blocked nose, trying not to further injure his wrecked throat. He’d come down with a pretty bad cold and as magic wasn’t to be used at the moment, he had to make do with muggle cures. Fred returned to the room with a steaming mug sitting neatly in his palms.

“Here you go.” He smiled sympathetically at his adorable brother while he handed the cup down. Fred always had a slight soft spot for caring and comforting. So when George had awoken at 5:30am complaining about his running nose and throbbing throat, Fred leaped at the chance to nurse him back to full health.

He started by carrying a curled up George to the sofa where he wrapped him up in blankets to stop the shivering. Then he gathered up the softest tissues he could find and the most acceptable flavour of cough sweets they had. George was used to their own joke sweets which, despite it not being their sole purpose, tasted really nice. That made finding a taste that George didn’t spit out quite tough however eventually he lost his taste and sucked on a blackberry one anyway.

“Thanks, can you gedd bee some obb that slippery stuff that muggledd use too?” George attempted to explain but his best efforts didn’t seem to make much sense. For a second, Fred thought he meant lube but that would have been vastly inappropriate considering his state. After a minute of thinking, he finally got it.

“Vaseline, you mean Vaseline!” Fred marvelled as he shook his head and went off in search for a tub of it. He was sure that it was something they had somewhere but locating it was quite a task. George just lay there, gradually sipping on his hot tea, allowing it to sooth his throat as he drank and clear his nose as he inhaled the steam.

“What do you want Vaseline for anyway?” Fred asked as he routed through their kitchen draws, pushing aside things they didn’t know they even owned and some suspicious looking muggle items.  
“I saw on the muggledd screen device thad it can help dore noses.” George said and Fred was amazed, they really were very advanced and resourceful.

He found what he was looking for at the bottom right corner of the left draw and shouted with delight once he’d dug it out. He brushed the dust off the lid before handing it to his twin.

“You have noticed that I’m still your brother right? I’ve not turned in to your house elf.” Fred joked like they always did and George rolled his eyes as he wrestled with the metal lid of the container.  
“Well, dte way you look in dhe mornin’ sometimes its hard to dell the difference.” George retorted, not looking up to see Fred’s reaction as he really could not open the Vaseline.  
“You realise we’re identical right? Oh for- give it here.” Fred rhetorically asked with a tone of sarcasm before snatching the tub away, unable to stand watching his incompetent, ill brother waste all his energy.

Fred pulled on it and realised that it was pretty difficult to open. He wondered if it had somehow got jammed until he knocked the edge and the lid twisted.  
“Ah, you turn it, not pull it.” Fred realised as he unscrewed the lid and handed the greasy substance back to George.  
“Dow much do I use?” He asked, his brows furrowing as he squished the stuff around with his finger.  
“I don’t know.” Fred shrugged as he watched the sceptical look on his twins face, he couldn’t wait to see what a mess George made of this.

“I’m jusd godda...” George trailed off as he scooped a dollop of it on two fingers and placed the blob on the tip of his nose. The shiny, see-through liquid made George’s nose look distorted and Fred could tell that he had put too much on. George began spreading it around the areas of his nose that felt tender and he very quickly realised that Vaseline was not made to be scooped up.

“I dink I may have overdone ibb.” George laughed a little before coughing slightly and Fred bent down with some tissue.  
“I think you could be right, but then again overdoing it is just you all over isn’t it.” Fred couldn’t resist a little comment while he gently scraped off the excess product from George’s nose. He was careful not to touch the sensitive skin though as George got very angry sometimes when he was in pain. Finally, 3 tissues later and the bottom of George’s red nose was covered in a _light_ coating of Vaseline.

“There you go, all done.” Fred declared as he moved back and admired his handiwork. It was a little messy but he assumed it would eventually soak in anyway so it wasn’t that big of a deal.  
In the time it took Fred to clean up, George’s cold had gotten a lot worse and he was clearly at the height of his symptoms.

“Euuurrrggghhh.” George whined as he squirmed on the sofa. Fred stood over him.  
“Honestly you.” He smiled lovingly as he tucked his brother in and perched himself by George’s feet.  
“I wandd cuddles.” George whined, his tone high pitched and needy. He showed even more of his childish side when he was ill.  
“Alright, budge up.” Fred made it sound like he was doing George a favour but he wasn’t really adverse to a good cuddle at all.

George shuffled to the back of the sofa and Fred pulled the blankets up as he slipped underneath them. His arms instinctively went around George’s middle as he pulled himself closer and his twin pressed their bodies together. George had a habit of laying his ear over Fred’s heartbeat, he’d done it even they were young. Ever since he can remember he always had an ear pressed to his chest after George had experienced a nightmare and needed to calm down. Now they had regular cuddles, he’d grown very accustomed to it, it didn’t even cross his mind now.

“Sleep, you’ll feel better, I promise.” Fred whispered and George was too worn out to reply, his yawn was the last noise he heard from his brother before he was fast asleep, his snoring more pronounced with his trouble breathing.

It was calm for a while and Fred got to lie there for a bit. He played with his brother’s hair, twirling it around his finger while he came up with joke shop ideas. They weren’t so much involved with it at the minute but Fred had already come up with a couple of test ideas. He was thinking about a line of broom attachments when George stirred next to him and his eyes fluttered open.

“Hello.” Fred whispered sweetly as he pushed George’s hair away from his forehead and pressed his hand there. He was a bit warm but not too bad.  
“God a bigraine now.” George winced as he replaced Fred’s hand with his own and squeezed his eyes shut.  
“’sit bad?” Fred murmured and George nodded. Fred gently guided his brother’s hands away and used his own fingers to massage his twins head. George relaxed slightly but still wasn’t happy.

“’s too bright.” George complained and Fred withdrew his hands.  
“Do you want me to make it darker here or move to the bed?” Fred asked and George pouted.  
“Wanna dday dere.” He whispered. Fred laughed as he got up and pulled the blinds down as silently as possible although occasionally they’d squeak and George would wince.

Finally all the lights were off and the room was as dark as it could go. Fred slipped back in to the masses of blankets, missing the warmth.  
“Better?” He asked and George whispered a ‘yeah’ back while still massaging the sides of his head. Fred hated seeing George in genuine pain and wished he could do something to take the grimace off his brother’s face.

“Aww, hey come here.” Fred whispered, feeling sorry for him. He pulled George in tight and pressed a quick kiss to the top of his head as a reminder to his brother of how much he is loved.

“You gettind all sabby on bee, Fred?” George laughed a little and Fred smiled, it was always reassuring to hear a joke when things weren’t going right.  
“Yeah I am, and you’re too ill to leave so you’re just gonna have to deal with it!” Fred giggled as George pulled away and Fred cupped his face.  
“Wubb you too, y’kdow.” George whispered and Fred let a beaming grin spread across his face, George always knew exactly what Fred was thinking.


End file.
